Satellite image of cropland in Volgograd Oblast, Russia. Companies like US - based Lanworth Inc. use images like this to predict the success of harvests anywhere in the world, then sell the information to commodity speculators. Even a crop's moisture

Satellite image of a Walmart parking lot in Atlanta, Georgia, US A. Since 2010, analysts at Swiss investment bank UBS have predicted Walmart's earnings by counting cars in satellite images of the supermarket's US parking lots.

BEFORE THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL, US SATELLITES WOULD SPY ON SOVIET MISSILES. NOW, THE SAME TECHNOLOGY IS USED TO PHOTOGRAPH CROPLAND AND SUPERMARKET PARKING LOTS, COLLECTING INFORMATION FOR STOCK-MARKET INVESTORS.